Hockeynut! wrote:Thanks for the info! I do a ton of highway driving so that's good to know. Will the 3.21s handle 33 inch tires? I don't know if I'll go with 33s eventually but I'd like the option. I love the more aggressive look of bigger tires and a slight lift (nothing too crazy, of course).

Same deal with the 33's as far as mileage being negatively affected (even more so than the 3.73's), not to mention the reduction you'll likely see in handling - but yeah, 3.21's should turn the 33's just fine.

yup again. the 3.21 is fine with the 33's. the only thing youll need to watch for with that height is any kind of heavy duty off-roading on that with no lift will result in some rubbing when the stock suspension flexes. I went with the teraflex leveling kit (i bought barely used online for 75$) for some additional clearance.

So my Acura wants to me to change it's oil. It keeps wanting to call my dealership to schedule an oil change. Since I'm a red-blooded Amurican, I change my own oil. My question is, will the car sense I changed my oil and reset the warning light about the oil change? It senses when I fill the gas tank up and automatically resets the Trip A odometer.

meow wrote:So my Acura wants to me to change it's oil. It keeps wanting to call my dealership to schedule an oil change. Since I'm a red-blooded Amurican, I change my own oil. My question is, will the car sense I changed my oil and reset the warning light about the oil change? It senses when I fill the gas tank up and automatically resets the Trip A odometer.

We have a 2011 HHR and two small kids. We are planning on a third and final kid scheduled to come around mid 2014. Things are already kind of cramped in our HHR with two kids and we would like a minivan by the time the next kid comes around. The price range we were looking at for everything we want will come about $400-500 a month. That is fine, but would push our budget some in 2014 and that payment would be fine in 2015. Here are our options then:

1. Keep HHR until 2015 and deal with two car seats and a booster seat in the backseat. We might lose some storage and it will looked cramped, but the oldest kid will be 4 in October this year and the kids don't really care about backseat space.

2. Buy a relatively cheap 5-7 year old van, moderate-to-high mileage by next year to give us the space and everything and a lower car payment and then in 2015 get a low mileage 2012 newer used van or a brand new van to keep for awhile at the payment we can afford then.

3. Get the 2012-2013 slightly used $400-500 a month van this fall and work with a really tight budget for about 12 months.

Option 1 seems like the smartest one and Option 3 is not so smart. But what about Option 2 to buy something cheap now to get what we desire, not intending to keep it more than 2-3 years, and then trading up for what we really want? Any thoughts?

meow wrote:So my Acura wants to me to change it's oil. It keeps wanting to call my dealership to schedule an oil change. Since I'm a red-blooded Amurican, I change my own oil. My question is, will the car sense I changed my oil and reset the warning light about the oil change? It senses when I fill the gas tank up and automatically resets the Trip A odometer.

pens9192 wrote:We have a 2011 HHR and two small kids. We are planning on a third and final kid scheduled to come around mid 2014. Things are already kind of cramped in our HHR with two kids and we would like a minivan by the time the next kid comes around. The price range we were looking at for everything we want will come about $400-500 a month. That is fine, but would push our budget some in 2014 and that payment would be fine in 2015. Here are our options then:

1. Keep HHR until 2015 and deal with two car seats and a booster seat in the backseat. We might lose some storage and it will looked cramped, but the oldest kid will be 4 in October this year and the kids don't really care about backseat space.

2. Buy a relatively cheap 5-7 year old van, moderate-to-high mileage by next year to give us the space and everything and a lower car payment and then in 2015 get a low mileage 2012 newer used van or a brand new van to keep for awhile at the payment we can afford then.

3. Get the 2012-2013 slightly used $400-500 a month van this fall and work with a really tight budget for about 12 months.

Option 1 seems like the smartest one and Option 3 is not so smart. But what about Option 2 to buy something cheap now to get what we desire, not intending to keep it more than 2-3 years, and then trading up for what we really want? Any thoughts?

meow wrote:So my Acura wants to me to change it's oil. It keeps wanting to call my dealership to schedule an oil change. Since I'm a red-blooded Amurican, I change my own oil. My question is, will the car sense I changed my oil and reset the warning light about the oil change? It senses when I fill the gas tank up and automatically resets the Trip A odometer.

pens9192 wrote:We have a 2011 HHR and two small kids. We are planning on a third and final kid scheduled to come around mid 2014. Things are already kind of cramped in our HHR with two kids and we would like a minivan by the time the next kid comes around. The price range we were looking at for everything we want will come about $400-500 a month. That is fine, but would push our budget some in 2014 and that payment would be fine in 2015. Here are our options then:

1. Keep HHR until 2015 and deal with two car seats and a booster seat in the backseat. We might lose some storage and it will looked cramped, but the oldest kid will be 4 in October this year and the kids don't really care about backseat space.

2. Buy a relatively cheap 5-7 year old van, moderate-to-high mileage by next year to give us the space and everything and a lower car payment and then in 2015 get a low mileage 2012 newer used van or a brand new van to keep for awhile at the payment we can afford then.

3. Get the 2012-2013 slightly used $400-500 a month van this fall and work with a really tight budget for about 12 months.

Option 1 seems like the smartest one and Option 3 is not so smart. But what about Option 2 to buy something cheap now to get what we desire, not intending to keep it more than 2-3 years, and then trading up for what we really want? Any thoughts?

I'm thinking 1.

#2 gets a strike against because higher mileage and the maintenance plan from the previous owner (in most situations) is an unknown. Although it might be a non-issue in some cases, what happens if something major goes out? I wouldn't recommend #3 because of the tight budget.

I was in traffic on the 405 a couple weeks ago and a Lamborghini Aventador pulled up behind me. First one I've seen in person. Guy spotted a gap and zipped out into the next lane, fishtailiing along, leaving tire marks for 30 feet, screaming revs. Sounded like a mean fighter jet. I pooped a little. It was awesome.

Not a Lambo guy at all, but the Aventador is fer realz. It's the frickin' Batmobile.